hi for the love of god hello i read your nasa zukka fic last night before i went to sleep and when i read the poetry i was like damn this is sick i have to remember to look this up in the morning and i did (obviously bc it was burned into the folds of my brain and i could never forget it in a million years) and YOU WROTE IT??? IT WAS ORIGINAL???? and then i reread it so i could feel emotions at 6 am on a monday and ITS IN HAIKU??? THE VERSES HIT THE SYLLABLE COUNT??? anyway i’m in love with you and the banter was perfect and the poetry was heartbreaking and amazing and i cried! and you’re amazing so yea. idk how every fic of yours hits it on the nose every time but by all means keep going pls. and if you want to talk about your process for writing the poetry especially i am listening with open ears hearts and holes <33333333

Oh my god hello you have no idea how many times I've read this ask, I am just BEYOND thrilled that you loved the poetry so much (and noticed it was haikuuuu I'm screaming)!! Like truly so deeply ecstatic, I adore the idea of poet-Sokka but I don't think poetry is necessarily my strong suit, so this has made my whole week I can't even tell you

I'm doing a little dance that this fic and the poetry could give you emotions at 6am on a Monday (truly the worst of times) and that you enjoyed the banter so much. And that you cried because of my haikus, I'M going to cry now!!

Thank you so so much, this is so sweet and lovely and I'm so over the moon from this and the fact that you think all my fics are such bangers and I'm also cracking up that you are listening with open ears and hearts and holes, how could I hold back my process knowing that.

Though process-wise it might be a bit thin, it's very vibes based. I've also done some poetry for Sokka in Of Tea and Turtle Ducks (and the Turtle Duck Guy) and To Open Every Door To Night, To Meet Each Rising Sun, and it's always haikus (math+art=Sokka's sweet spot) and always coming from this place of deep emotion or really feeling the moment he's in.

I tend to focus on one or two core phrases or pieces of imagery for the poem. So for Sokka at NASA being overwhelmed by seeing a rocket launch, I wanted a sense of the launch itself (fire, explosive force, fragile bodies, deadly flame) and the reverence (wonder, care) that Sokka brings to space as this vast frontier. It's something scientific but also something worthy of near-spiritual awe (dreaming, hoping to see), and something that is tangled with a lot of longing for him (carrying hope, far-flung dreams).

Once I have those core phrases or images, it's a lot of counting and shuffling around the order of things and trying out different combinations until the syllables finally work (and me telling myself that Sokka is an amateur poet so it's okay for me to be one too haha). I usually put in placeholders for the poems when I write, because actually figuring out a haiku and getting it where I want it within the scene can take 30ish minutes (depending on how anchored I get to specific imagery being in it) so I like to give it it's own headspace.

I liked all the imagery I was coming up with in the NASA fic, which is why we ended up with three haikus haha

With fire and dreaming, we send these fragile bodies into endless night.

They carry our hope to see beyond the edge of our own gravity.

We shape deadly flame, with wonder and care, to reach for our far-flung dreams

hi, ricky. i love your art style, and the way you do the lines is so cool! could you please draw duke keane from hatchetfield?

Howdy! Thank you so much, oh my goodness! Of course I can draw some more Duke for ya! He’s one of my favorite Hatchetfield characters, and criminally, i’ve only drawn him a few times.

Have a doodle page! <3

I saw your toph+katara gender post and honestly... thank you for being one of few ppl i've seen who actually do a deeper analysis of toph? Most people tend to just go "i love toph she's cool <3" and while that's fine, its so nice to actually see someone Get Her. Esp wrt her gender expression and relationship to femininity. She's always been v imporant to me, like when i was like 12 i used to watch youtube clips of the toph+katara spa day scene on repeat and have Feelings abt it (still think its a super interesting scene??). Imo, while a lot of her expression is def rebelling (+overcompensating) and doing the oposite of her feminine upbringing, a lot of it is also a genuine JOY at being covered in dirt/burping/being loud and crass and tough? Idk i just feel like a lot of her contemporary "tomboy" characters were more defined as "ugh i hate Skirts and Dresses", but tophs brand of gnc joy and complex relationship w femininity always hit closer For Me? Like. She's loud and crass and rude and badass and cool, she does find it fun to dress girly but as like an Activity with a buddy, she's overjoyed at being portrayed as a big buff dude ("that's exactly how i would cast it!"), she's actually very spiritual and perceptive when not in Loud Mode, she keeps her fancy hairstyle but adds messy bangs, idk she's just. Character of all time. I'd love to hear if you have more thoughts on toph+gender (or just toph in general), and thank you for actually Understanding Her <33

YES!!!!! i have so many thoughts and feelings on toph. she is one of my absolute favorite characters i truly love her so much, and like you said, i hate when people dismiss her even as they claim to love her. "she's so badass" like okay, and?

toph is also just very important to me as her disability informs so much of her arc. and that disability is also inextricable from her gender and her family and all the factors that shape who she is, her strengths and her insecurities. you cannot separate her parents' abuse from her gender, class, or blindness. it's the combination of being an aristocratic blind girl that informs who she is and how she's perceived, especially by her family. she's an only child in a family that would clearly desire at least one son, and you cannot help but wonder whether they stopped at one for eugenicist purposes, whether they couldn't bear the "pain" of risking having another disabled child. and also because they clearly consider having a blind child such a handful that any other child would draw their attention away from her dire, pressing needs. so they completely smother her, but they also dismiss her, trivialize her desires and ignore her feelings and treat her more like a fragile porcelain doll than a person.

it's why, by the time of "the chase," she gets inordinately defensive over katara's suggestion that she pitch in when setting up camp. i see a lot of people claim that toph in this episode is acting like a spoiled brat who refuses to do manual labor because she's too wealthy to understand, but that's not actually the case. toph is fine with doing manual labor (she literally spent who knows how long working in an underground wrestling ring, she's not unaccustomed to work), but she's averse to helping others. as she says, "i carry my own weight." she's establishing, erroneously but understandably, that her idea of affording others respect is assuming that everyone behaves on an individual basis. she's never had friends before, by her own admission, and so in her mind, the only model she's ever seen for "helping others" is smothering them, denying their agency, and deciding everything for them.

toph thinks that katara is a bitch because katara is suggesting that toph meddle in other people's affairs, instead of respecting their own business. and katara thinks that toph is a bitch because she does just straight up assume that toph is a spoiled brat who doesn't understand the value of community. and while toph isn't a spoiled brat, learning the value of community is indeed integral to her arc. and more than simply communal values of helping and sharing with others, she also learns to rely on them in turn. she learns how to embrace her vulnerability, and let others carry her weight for her. her apotheosis in the finale is literally hanging onto sokka, who is holding her entire weight with one hand, for dear life. putting her complete faith in him to carry her and protect her as he always does.

that ability to embrace her vulnerability among the people she actually trusts to not only love and support her, but also to recognize her as a human being and care about her as a a peer, is so crucial to her identity as someone who has learned from years of ableist stigma to put walls up and present herself as someone uniquely powerful and invulnerable. and it's not that she isn't uniquely powerful, but her strength is also largely a projection. it's why she's so delighted to be portrayed by a big buff man, because that's the kind of person she wishes she could be, so that she wouldn't have to be underestimated and belittled and oppressed by people who dismiss her and coddle her and disrespect her and, quite literally, put her in a box.

so if toph's experience with disability is informed by her class and her upbringing, then let's now turn to her experience with gender, which is equally informed by her background. katara often balks at toph's less feminine presentation, because despite her incredibly righteous crusade against limiting patriarchal standards, she nonetheless has her own hangups when it comes to gender. but then again, so does toph. just as katara disdains toph's masculinity, toph finds katara's femininity offensive because her only real model for femininity in her experience is that of aristocratic wifehood. poppy beifong, to be exact, who is not exactly a girlboss (let alone a revolutionary, like katara is). and when katara tries to shove toph back into a box, toph resists because of course she does, that's who she is. she's not going take what she experiences as violent repression lying down.

toph is wrong in "the runaway" to exclude katara from their fun, and she is wrong to call compare her to a mother, but it's not out of nowhere. there is an obvious precedent to these actions. katara is a genuinely feminine girl who loves to boss people around and dictate how they should live their lives. to toph, this is the most egregious sin imaginable. katara, through her femininity and authoritative attitude, is positioning herself, in toph's eyes, as her mother. and toph calls her out for being overbearing and claims that katara hates fun and wants to boss everyone around for this reason, even though sokka is obviously the primary fun-hating, overbearing member of the group.

however, sokka never dictates how toph should act or dress, sokka never made fun of toph for being blind (which is a thing that really deserves its own post, if we're being honest). sokka makes them spend their vacation time at the library and enforces his color-coded schedules on them and generally brings down the vibe what with his neuroticism and severity, but he also laughs at toph's jokes and banters with her in a way that treats her as a friend and not as a rival. and unlike katara, whose desires and commands seem completely arbitrary to toph, sokka's commands are grounded in a logic that toph can understand. so even if from an outside perspective, toph's claim that a revolutionary teenage girl who loves to cause trouble and seeks adventure and joy around every corner is trying to be the overbearing mom of the group makes no sense, it makes perfect sense to toph, based on her history with femininity, overbearing mothers, and feminine overbearing mothers.

toph presents masculinely as compensation, as a way to make herself seem strong and tough instead of dainty and submissive as she was always made out to be. she associates masculinity with strength and femininity with weakness because that's the paradigm she grew up in. it's why she's always teasing aang about his supposed femininity and calling him "twinkle toes" (which, as sokka points out, isn't manly). in their first interaction, aang beat her in a fight and humiliated her in front of all her adoring fans, and avatar or not, toph's gonna make him pay for that by undermining him in turn, by using his presentation as a monk to mock him. even if aang isn't gay or even gender non-conforming (within the assumptions of his own culture), toph is still employing the logic of sexism/homophobia to undermine aang when she makes jokes about him being "more in touch with [his] feminine side than most guys." and of course, the nickname "twinkle toes" is also deeply affectionate, and aang (bless his heart) never actually takes offense to it. but toph is trying to establish herself as more powerful than him due to the humiliating knowledge that he could beat her in a fight, easily.

toph's masculinity is inextricably tied to her invulnerability. she wants to be taken seriously and treated as a human being, which is respect that has been denied to her due to her status as a blind girl, save for her blind bandit persona, which superficially empowered her and made her feel strong. it's not coincidence that her rival earthbender is a guy who is essentially a parody of masculinity. toph wants to position herself as equivalent, if not directly superior, to the Most Masculine Man, because that's how she'll be afforded respect, in her mind. but she is a girl. and there's a part of her that likes being a girl, and wishes she could explore her femininity more than she's allowed herself to, beyond the confines of the beifong mansion. she keeps her hair long because she still loves her family and holds out hope that maybe one day they can accept her (she comes from a culture modeled off of tang dynasty china, so her long hair is likely a product of her adherence to confucian values). and once she embraces it, she genuinely does get into being made over at the fancy lady day spa.

femininity has been a genuinely harmful and repressive agent in toph's life, and it's understandable that she would internalize some misogynistic notions surrounding girl/womanhood as they were foisted onto her her entire childhood. but femininity isn't ontologically harmful. femininity isn't ontological, period. i think as toph gets older, and her friendship with katara grows deeper as they both come to be more honest with each other, she would grow to embrace her masculinity in a more organic and less compensatory way. less of a "i'm not like other girls" complex (which itself is not something that girls should be mocked and punished for, but rather a product of a patriarchal system that oppresses and alienates women, thus leading many less gender-conforming girls to attempt to assert their agency and individuality in any way they can, even if it means putting down others in the process), and more so genuinely coming to embrace her butchness. (you don't necessarily have to read her as a baby butch, of course, but considering that being a masculine girl is important to her, i think that's a really lovely and beautiful synthesis of her relationship to gender as a character.)

i think toph would learn stop pitting masculinity and femininity against each other, and instead embrace whatever aspects of either (or neither) she desires, while nonetheless respecting everyone else's deal in turn. i think she would also, in a key turning point, realize that even if she loves her parents, she doesn't have any obligation to be the daughter they expect her to be, and cuts her hair. and as she grows more secure in herself (which comes with age, no twelve year old is truly confident in their own skin), she would stop feeling the need to put other people down to feel big, and be comfortable embracing her desires. and, credit to her, she's clearly already on her way. the progress she makes being vulnerable, especially around sokka, even in what is chronologically a matter of months, is huge.

toph isn't just "badass" because she's strong and powerful. but rather, what makes her so powerful, at least to disabled viewers who see their struggles reflected in hers, is her ability to grow with her environment, allowing herself to admit help, and letting herself be loved. if you couldn't already tell, toph is incredibly important to me.

silly lil wally things :) Wally Darling x Reader

this is a list of my wally fics. these can be read as oneshots, although they are also written to be readable as a series, including specific nods towards prior fics and such. although it is not necessary, it is highly recommended to read them in the following order. enjoy!!

snorrrk mimimi - When you wake up in the morning, something is different…

paint me like one of your french girls - You weren’t the best painter, nor were you the best at picking up hints…

alone with you - You and Wally sneak away for a breath of fresh air, providing the perfect opportunity to try to get your feelings off your chest.

the plan - Wally, desperate to get you to pick up on his feelings for you, sits down to try and sort out a plan with his wingmen.

late night confessions - The phone ringing late at night allows opportunity to come knocking.

sleepy phone call - You find yourself unable to fall asleep, leading you to call Wally in the late hours of the night.

promise - Wally convinces you to sleep over for the night.

kiss farewell - After a night spent at Wally's, he walks you home.

town gossip - News spread quickly about you and Wally, but what actually are you?

first date - Wally asks you out in a date, but little does he know.

alone with you, take two - Jealousy isn’t a frequent feeling for Wally, but sometimes, things get on his nerves.

(done.)

these can also all be found on my ao3.

I have a ko-fi as well, if you would like to support me!!

thank you so much to everyone for your support on my works so far. i truly, deeply appreciate everything. it means the world to me, as do you <3 have a wonderful day!!

Posted Tuesday, May 9, 2023, at 10:16 PM

How old do you think the turtle tots are in the comics/art you've shown? (like, roughly, how it's their development)

will probably be a bit long because of pics so!

^ a few weeks after being mutated (basically still newborns, very small)

^ Around 6-7 months! Can be seen crawling around the house

^ Roughly around 8 months old (already starting to string together syllables)

^ Around 3 years old! (Yi is VERY smart for her age)

^ Around 4 years old!

^ extra silly fun fact! they started purring being only a few days old!

Have you ever watched the stroopwaffel maxiel video?

Reading a fic that's so well written I wish I could close my eyes and just let the descriptions and atmosphere wash over me, but the dilemma with closing my eyes is, well, I then would not be able to continue reading this fic, now would I.

I still can't get over how close they were sitting during the bachelor party. It's insane they really have no concept of personal space.

at the rate they’re going the s8 premiere is gonna have eddie sitting on buck’s lap and buck coming up behind eddie and wrapping his arms around his waist and no one in the 118 is gonna blink an eye.

hi. I just read your entire comic in one go and I’ve gotta say I am in love with it. as a trans guy with hair that looks so much like Steve’s and who loves werewolves, I had to physically restrain myself from squealing out loud upon realizing he was trans, because I am currently living in a room with five other people in a small community in rural Alaska and didn’t want to explain to them the joys of seeing yourself in a character and then realizing “oh shit they’re trans like me”. I hope you are doing well, and may the gods of creativity and carpal tunnel bless you with much fruit in your artistic endeavors.

how could I ever show how deeply messages like this touch me... I never know what to say, I want so badly to have the proper words to show you how grateful I am

This is why I write. so that people get to feel like this, and I could never reflect that properly with just my words... But I want you to know that.

I hope to make something that is worthy of your love, and I hope every day that my work is sufficient to show I love you. so I'm relieved that it's succeeding and you feel seen.

Thank you for sharing this with me, I love you

Hello guys, I've been debating asking this for a few weeks but I was honestly way too embarassed. However I am now desperate since all attempts to find a job have not gone wel. I truly need help to finish paying my master's tuition fees so I can finally finish my thesis once and for all. right now 200 euro is my goal because I've managed to save up some money myself but any help would be super appreciated.

Again I'm so sorry for asking this since I know so many of us are going through difficult times and just a reblog if you want would be enough thank you so much!

my ko-fi is right here

i came back to tumblr and was so delighted to see your ocs again!!! ☺️☺️ i love when you post your original characters ❤️❤️❤️ i used to follow you on instagram when you had started making a group of characters that were like elementals, some were firey or icey, or others had to do with nature ☘️, and i loved to see them! you draw people in such an organic and real way, and i like how the bodies you draw are bony and "lumpy" (in a really good way!). they look so real and full of personality!!! 🌟 i hope you have a good time drawing and you keep sharing your characters and cool ideas with us :D you rock!!!

thank you so much dear Anon! it's always so nice to hear kind words and knowing that you appreciate that i'm trying to picture real life looking people with all their varieties of body type and shapes, that means a lot to me! it's a pleasure to share my works and ideas with you!

have a great day!

not rlly a question but ur art makes me so happy ily turnip/p😭

AAAAUGH THANK YOU!! IM SO GLAD 😭❤️🌸

🌸 !!CHAPTER SIX POSTED!! 🌸

Title: Four Walls

Tags: Slow burn, domesticity, friends to lovers, smut, pining post sias/pre am era

Summary: Disillusioned with LA and on the heels of a breakup, Alex goes to stay with Miles in London.

Hey Bird, just wanted to let you know that I'm enjoying Swifthawk's comic a ton! Is it okay if I add my own thoughts as to why Firestar snapping at Swifthawk might have taken people by surprise? (Though, yeah, Swift really deserved it that time). I think if you look at the Darkest Hour with Darkstripe poisoning Sorrelkit and his trail and exile, Firestar was pretty cool, took time to question Darkstripe's side, and was even thought he wanted to give Darkstripe a fair trial so not even Tigerstar's allies could accuse him of favoritism despite, you know, attempted murder being the crime. So I think it surprises people that Firestar's calm and collected in an attempted murder trial and snaps at one of his warriors trying to goad him. In fact, I don't think it's until Sunset when the Clan is arguing against allowing Stormfur and Brook to stay that Firestar snaps that his mind is made up, and it's treated as being very shocking and out of character for Firestar. Though I hope you don't take that in a negative way, as it's made very clear that Firestar's upset by what he just had to say and do, so I don't think it makes him unlikable or unsympathetic. And I am excited to see how Swifthawk and Firestar can eventually reconcile though (as you said he does find his way home again)! Keep up the great work!

As I was reading this analysis, I really tried to ask myself why Firestar's response felt accurate and even inevitable, and I think I found it.

Firestar trusts Swifthawk.

Swift wasn't just another Darkstripe that Fire could never relax around. While they haven't always agreed, they maintained respect for one another as clanmates. While Swift's escalating anger was concerning, Fire still had no doubts about his loyalty to both himself and ThunderClan. So to hear Swift echoing his father's opinion was a stab in the back. It invalidates every encounter up til now, where Swift showed some respect for Fire, proving he never stopped seeing him as a kittypet and little more.

(I actually tried to foreshadow this a few times, particularly when he asks Bramblepaw, "What's it like training under a kittypet?" Despite everything Firestar has done to try to help him, Swift struggles to see past his origins.)

hey. hope this message doesn't bother you. I love you. I love your work. you are one of my favorite fic authors, I am absolutely obsessed with everything you write. reread everything ten times over, drarry or not, fluffy or angsty - even when it absolutely shatters my heart (e.g. for lack of wanting, SUCH a great fic btw i'm so obsessed with it). the four doors? life changing. two to lie and one to listen? engraved into my brain for eternity. what's mine is yours? what a ride holy shit, im VERY normal about it. wrapped? my comfort read. and so it goes.

if I could aggressively smother you with kudos and love I WOULD!!!

awhile ago you said that there's no such thing as "big deals" in fandom and I 100% agree but at the same time you are a big deal TO ME!!! not in the sense of any kind of hierarchy but purely based on the fact that I think you are such a cool person and your writing is amazing and poignant and your presence in fandom makes it so much better. it's been a pleasure following you here on tumblr and just reading your tags and posts.

idk I just think you rule. that's it. thank you for hanging with us. MWAH 💛

ahhhh anon sorry for leaving this message sitting in my inbox for a couple of days but !! i have zero idea how to react to this!! you're so kind!! thank you!! please discard any and all inclinations u have that i am a cool person bc i can assure you i am NOT!!